First Colonial scores three in the 8th to beat Kecoughtan softball in 6A South semifinals

First Colonial won versus Kecoughtan 3-0 at Wednesday's Group 6A South Region Softball Semifinals.

First Colonial won versus Kecoughtan 3-0 at Wednesday's Group 6A South Region Softball Semifinals.

Dave Johnson, djohnson@dailypress.com

HAMPTON — For seven quick innings, Kecoughtan and First Colonial didn't scratch on the scoreboard. Just what you would expect from postseason softball, in which everyone has an ace in the circle and runs are at a premium.

It figured that one run would do it, but the Patriots scored three in the top of the eighth to beat the Warriors 3-0 in the Group 6A South Region semifinals Wednesday. Meaghan Barfield's two-run double put First Colonial ahead, and the Patriots added an insurance run they didn't need.

Jenna Powell pitched an eight-inning no-hitter, allowing only a pair of walks. That in mind, a 3-0 lead might as well have been 13-0.

"It's difficult to come back from that," Kecoughtan pitcher Maddy Morris said. "I mean, clearly it's nearly impossible to come back from that, especially that late in the game with how tired we (were). It's difficult."

The Warriors (18-3) did get a lead-off walk in the bottom half. But Powell got a double play and a liner to third to end it.

Powell retired the first 15 batters she faced. The Warriors' only hard-hit balls all day were a groundout by Morris, a liner to left by Allyson Babinsack to left, and a liner to center by Sadie Sly.

"She was overwhelming," Kecoughtan coach Mark Christman said of Powell. "She was moving it inside and outside. Basically, she was going left-right, left-right, inside-outside, inside-outside, mixing it up real well.

"We expected it to be the kind of ball game it was. It was a great, tough ball game."

Morris retired the first nine she faced before Madison King singled to lead off the fourth. King was then erased at third when she tried to take an extra base on Kyndall Hagedorn's bunt single — the first of three escapes for Morris and the Warriors.

In the sixth, FC had runners at second and third with two out, but clean-up hitter Skylar Johnston hit a comebacker to Morris. In the seventh, the Patriots had first and second with one out. Morris got back-to-back strikeouts.

But in the eighth, King led off with a triple to the fence in right-center field. After Hagedorn walked and took second on defensive indifference, Barfield scorched a double down the left-field line to score both runners.

It was over.

"They're a good team," Christman said. "The chances of coming back from three runs is a really, really hard thing to do."

The only time Kecoughtan moved a runner to scoring position came in the sixth inning, when after a lead-off walk Logan Belcher was bunted to second with one out. That brought Babinsack, the Warriors' best hitter, to the plate.

With third base open, FC elected to pitch to her. After the count reached 3-2, Powell got Babinsack on a pop-up to short.

"Down and out," Powell said when asked how she wanted to pitch Babinsack. "Keep the ball low on her."

It was a tough ending for a team that won the inaugural Monitor-Merrimac championship and had hopes of playing deeper into June. But Christman wasn't down.

"I'm really proud of these kids," he said. "They really came together. I told them out there, we're still conference champions and that still goes on the wall."